Today, I am listening to ZUD, a blackened rock and roll outfit from some remote location in Maine that I have never heard of. They just self-released an album, The Good, The Bad and The Damned. The fact that I saw Skeletonwitch last night has made me want to seek out others who use a black metal vocal with another type of metal genre.
The title of this album is kind of boring, honestly, but the music is not. It’s good ol’ rock and roll with a black metal edge. Shreddy guitars, relentless drumming, insanely evil vocals. There are lots of bands out there that attempt this hybrid. Vreid, Carpathian Forest and Negative Plane come to mind. ZUD does a great job of blending those raw black metal vocals with straightforward rock and roll. This is music designed for driving your motorcycle fast and ditching your enemies in the dust.
I am looking forward to hearing what the rest of this record sounds like. Check ’em out here.